Apple Data Center Opens In Spring To Support Cloud
In the past few weeks, Apple has been making headlines for potentially stonewalling the efforts of every single subscription music service in the market. Quite serendipitously, it has now been announced that their $1 billion data center in Maiden, N.C., is expected to open this spring and will be used to support iTunes and MobileMe.
Due to Apple's acquisition of Lala, the recent move against rival services, and the data center, it's believed that the company will soon offer web-based streaming access to iTunes content and maybe even a subscription based service. Prior reports have also suggested this service could be "available as early as June."
If Apple does enter the subscription music sector and holds firm on their tax, the landscape will be fundamentally different. While Rhapsody has been attempting to crack the subscription market for nearly a decade, they're not Apple. Rhapsody doesn't have the marketing muscle or cult-like brand status they do either.
Plus, Apple is known for its uncanny ability to offer consumers things that they didn't know they wanted and in a way that makes it seem like they invented it.
Think about that for a second.
If Steve Jobs feels like it, he can invent subscription music – tomorrow. He can convince millions of users to sign up. And he has forged the landscape in a way that positions his service on top no matter what rival services accomplish. Apple will always be more integrated and cheaper than anyone else on the market will.
As other services grow and take on new subs, Apple can utilize their 30% profit cut to out-market and innovate them at every corner. Like I've said in the past, it's become increasingly apparent that no matter what strategy rival companies have, Apple still owns the board beneath them and will do whatever it pleases with it.
That's the harsh reality everyone is waking up to. Apple owns the App Store (not to mention the iPod, iPhone, and iPad), not you. And not once did it forgot that.
Welcome to the next Big Apple.
“If Steve Jobs feels like it, he can invent subscription music – tomorrow.”
Great quote! I think it’s true too. Apple looks for several ‘vectors in time’ and connects them to build their new products. All the ingredients for a great subscription service seem to be present nowadays, and current trends such as mobility and always being connected, should be able to support such a service in the coming years too.
Now let’s hope it won’t be another Ping…
Rhapsody has been a great subscription service for some time now. The major labels will regret not having promoted it if the Apple service launches with their onerous subscription tax in place.
Rob, you wouldn't believe this. In a lecture I gave the other day, I slammed Ping hard. One girl raised her hand and told me that she didn't understand… Her friends use Ping all the time! "Why don't you like Ping," she challenged. I almost lost the argument, because I didn't know the argument. Ping has been so universally trashed that I never wrote about it. Then, here comes this girl who LOVES Ping and doesn't understand that the music industry HATES Ping. I'll have to write that blog post soon.
they’ve been stonewalling and doing things like buying and killing La La until they were ready to take over the cloud.
I’m certain Steve Jobs or the rest of the Apple team doesn’t believe that they “invented” the MP3 player, the laptop, the tablet, or the smartphone, because the fact is that they didn’t. However they did take an existing idea and morph it into something more attractive, and that is where Apple has built it’s reputable ethos and brand image that stands firm today.
If plans for the data center are to harness a subscription music service, Apple isn’t going to claim that they invented the cloud music subscription but its almost guaranteed that it will be more tempting to subscribe over leading music subscription services such as Rhapsody.
We will have to wait until June to find out…